


YOI Mythology Week

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Mythology - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-13 20:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13578387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Written for YOI Mythology WeekDay 1: Icarus/Sun God





	1. Day 1 - Icarus

Yuuri tried to be patient. Tried to remind himself that the wings Celestino had given him would let him touch the sun, if he just tried hard enough, flew high enough. Celestino warned him to take it easy, to be patient, to let himself not get there this year – his dreams would still be there next year, if he didn’t make it, and he could try again.

Yuuri didn’t listen. He took those wings and flew as high as he could. He won a gold and a silver to get to the Grand Prix Finals. He practiced on the same ice as the sun – or Viktor Nikiforov, as most people called him. He warmed up on the same ice, in the same holding room. Viktor never looked his way, talking mostly to Yakov and Chris, but Yuuri didn’t mind. He hadn’t flown high enough yet.

He was in third after the short program. He could feel the heat under his fingers… and then his wings let him down. He spiraled so quickly he couldn’t believe it was happening as he fell. Fall he did, going down into the ocean of despair so deep he didn’t know how to get out.

Instinct took over, and he fought his way to the surface – where he discovered that the sun had come down to meet him. Viktor Nikiforov was standing in front of him, hand outstretched. “From now on, I’m going to be your coach. You’re going to get back to the Grand Prix Finals – and this time, you’re going to win!”


	2. Day 2 - Norse Mythology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otabek stops off at a farm for the night, where he finds a young man mysteriously dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a story from [Egil's Saga](http://www.therunesite.com/egils-saga/#chapter73).

Otabek was tired. It had been a long walk, and he was eager to get in before the darkness. There was a farm up ahead, and Otabek hurried toward it. He knocked on the door.

It was opened by an old man, who appeared to be troubled. “What can I do for you, traveler?”

“I’m tired. It’s been a long journey. Will you give me a place to rest tonight?”

The old man nodded slowly. “I hope you will forgive my lack of proper hospitality. You’re welcome to stay here, but my grandson is very ill, and we don’t know the cause, so it might be better if you stayed in the barn instead of the house. I would hate for a guest under my roof to fall ill because of exposure to my grandson.”

Otabek furrowed his brow. “Could I see him? I’m no physician, but I do know something of runic magic. If nothing else, perhaps I could carve him a strengthening spell to help him fight back.”

The old man nodded again, this time more cheerfully. “I would be very grateful for anything you can do to help him. Please, come with me.”

Otabek could feel the malignant force in the room as soon as he stepped in. He examined the young man, but couldn’t find any obvious causes of the illness. As he looked around the room, though, he spotted a whale bone sitting above the bed. He picked it up and noticed the runes inscribed along its length. “Where did he get this?”

“A neighbor gave it to him. Not long before he got sick.”

“This is the cause of his illness. These runes, they’re poorly done and by keeping it near his bed, it’s cursed him.”

The old man paled and he looked at his grandson. “Can you help him?”

“I can.” Otabek looked around and found a stool, which he drew close to the fire. From his belt, he drew a sharp carving knife. He held the bone over the fire and carefully scraped the area of the runes until there was no trace of them left.

Once that was done, he checked on the young man. He no longer felt the malignant force he had earlier, but there was no improvement. Otabek dropped the whale bone into the fire and waited until he was certain it had been purified by the flame. Very carefully, he pulled it out and set it aside to cool. “What’s his name?”

“Yuri. And I am Nikolai. What’s happening?”

“Once the bone is cool enough for me to handle, I’ll carve words that will work against the curse on Yuri. He won’t get any worse while we wait.”

Once the bone had cooled, Otabek carefully carved a message of healing and strengthening into it. He put the bone back in its spot just above Yuri’s bed. “He should wake by morning. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get some sleep while we wait.”

“Of course. Of course, sleep well.”

When Otabek woke up the next morning, it was to see Yuri staring at him. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Do you think JJ did that on purpose?”

“No. I think he was careless, but not malicious. It would have been much more difficult to save you had he intended it to harm you.”

“Good to know. I always knew he was an idiot. What happens now? You saved my life, I owe you. And don’t say that it was paid with you staying here overnight, that’s just common hospitality.”

“I don’t know. I have no need of anything, so…”

Nikolai cleared his throat. “Would you be willing to take him with you as a servant for the winter? He’s been dreaming of getting away from the farm, and with you, he would be safe.”

Otabek thought it over. “That would work. I’ll bring him home before the spring. Yuri?”

Yuri nodded, an eager gleam in his eyes. "Thank you! And thank you, Grandpa, for letting me go."


	3. Day 3 - Reincarnation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Pet death

Makkachin’s death was a sad day in the Katsuki-Nikiforov household. She was extremely old for a poodle and they’d been preparing for it, but she was still going to be missed dearly.

It only took a couple months before Viktor and Yuuri were starting to go nuts without a dog, so they went looking for one. They came home with two – they found a poodle breeder who had two brown poodle puppies ready for adoption. One matched Makkachin’s fur color exactly, and the other Vicchan’s.

After a week, Yuuri smiled as he watched the dogs sleep. “Moko reminds me so much of Vicchan right after I got him. It’s not just that they look alike. Vicchan loved getting into the laundry for a nap, and look.” Moko was curled up on a sweater that he’d obviously stolen from the laundry hamper. “It’s so cute, but it’s kind of eerie, too.”

“I know. Have you noticed Mikya with the tongue hanging out? It’s just like Makkachin. She’s also getting bigger faster…”

A few months later, the size difference was much more pronounced. Moko had remained tiny, while Mikya was getting big. They continued to act like their respective predecessors, and Yuuri and Viktor were very creeped out by the time they went to Hasetsu, taking the dogs.

When they got to Hasetsu, Moko and Mikya explored the inn – but not like dogs in new territory. More like dogs returning to familiar territory. There was a particular spot out front where Makkachin had loved to lie in the sun, and Mikya went straight to it. Moko preferred to be indoors, on Yuuri’s bed, just like Vicchan always had.


	4. Day 5: Light and Dark

Yuri Plisetsky was the sun. Altin might mean gold, but in Otabek’s mind, Yuri was the one the color belonged to. From his hair to the slew of gold medals he’d won through novices and juniors, everything about Yuri was gold. He was so bright sometimes that Otabek could barely look at him directly. Yuri was also full of fire, both the good kind that drove him forward and sustained his passion for skating, and the bad kind that showed in his temper.

Otabek was the darkness. He’d made a reputation of being a dark horse, the unlikely interloper from a country nobody had heard of who competed with the best of the skating world. He didn’t do it on purpose, but his default expression was somewhat dark, which made him appear surly and unapproachable. He didn’t draw attention to himself, unless he was on the ice, unlike so many other skaters with their social media. Much of the attention he did get was for his motorcycle and his black leather jacket and his DJing, giving him the dark image of a bad boy.

Practically since the day Otabek first kidnapped the sun, there had been media speculation about the two of them. At first, a lot of the speculation focused on the fact that Yuri was fifteen. After Welcome to the Madness, Otabek and Yuri had pulled back from each other – at least in public. In private, over DMs and Skype calls and the like, they’d only gotten closer as they got to know each other. Once Yuri was sixteen, they stopped caring as much what people said about them. The media then started speculating on what on Earth drew the two boys together, the hotheaded sun and the stoic dark horse.

As Otabek got to know Yuri, really know him instead of just seeing the surface layers, he found a lot of darkness underneath the golden glow exterior. His childhood had sucked. Skating and his grandfather were the only good parts of an absent father, a constantly drunk mother, and a learning disability that made school a pain in the ass. It fueled the rage and made him work that much harder at what he was good at. It also left a profound loneliness underneath it all. Otabek would never say it to Yuri, but it reminded him of Viktor and how he’d seemed to shine through the loneliness he felt before falling for Yuuri.

Yuri had initially been attracted to the darkness. He loved the motorcycle, the music, the aesthetic. Once he started getting below the surface, he discovered the stereotypical heart of gold that bad boys were supposed to have. Otabek did a lot of charity work, both for worldwide charities and for local things. He volunteered his time to make Almaty a better place for all of its citizens. On the ice, he’d become a mentor to several young Kazakhstani children who showed talent and determination. For this, he was named a national hero, which Yuri teased him about forever.


	5. Day 7 - Hades/Persephone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starring Phichit as Persephone and Celestino as Hades.

Phichit was, by nature, a very curious boy. Everyone knew him for the flowers that sprang up around him, the way birds would perch on his shoulder or hand and sing for him, the warmth he radiated without ever being too hot, and his very protective mother. He was rarely allowed to go anywhere without an escort, but he hated being confined in his home. It was a nice home. Flowers everywhere, lots of small cuddly animals to play with… but no one he could talk to. Well, no one he could talk to who would talk back to him, anyway.

When the mysterious hole in the ground opened up, Phichit didn’t hesitate. He had to explore it. He tied a rope to a nearby tree and climbed down, where he found a path leading forward. It was big enough that he could walk standing up, and the flowers would guide him back when he was ready to go, so he set out forward.

It was a straightforward path – lots of twists and turns, but no branches, no decision points that he’d have to remember. All the while, it was downhill. He enjoyed the walk, even as he dreaded the uphill climb back. Oh well, that was the future’s problem. It wasn’t like he’d get lost on the way back up, so he could stop to rest when he needed to.

He emerged into a cave deep underground, and for the first time in his life, Phichit felt cold. He’d never seen anything like this cave, with its oppressive cold and darkness and the slight growl of machinery. He should turn around and go back up, but he was too curious about this new environment. He’d made it halfway to the river he saw flowing through the cave before he realized – there was no trail of flowers behind him. He could faintly see the flowers in the tunnel down, but once in the cave – nothing. Interesting.

When he got to the riverbank, a louder growl caught his attention, and he looked up to see a giant three-headed dog on the other side of the river. While he stood there, trying to figure out how to get across the river – Phichit could swim, but the river current was fast and there were a lot of rocks so he didn’t think swimming was a good idea – the dog paced and growled until a man showed up.

Phichit stared at the man. He was beautiful, though not like the people he was used to up on the surface. The man stared back with quite a bit of shock in his green eyes. Then, suddenly, the river went still, and the man motioned for him to come across.

Phichit took a hesitant step into the water, to find it was onto the water. He walked across the river, mesmerized by the strange man that he was walking to. “Hello! Who are you?”

“Celestino. How did you get down here, Phichit?”

“Through the…” Phichit turned to point out the tunnel he’d come through, but it was gone. Not just too far away to see; the entire wall of the cave was solid earth. “There was a tunnel I followed down. I swear it was just there.”

“Hmm. Your mother must be frantic by now.” Celestino rolled his eyes. “Sawat’s probably going to blame me for kidnapping you. Come on, you must be tired if you walked all the way down here. Get some rest and then I’ll take you home.”

“I don’t want to go home.” Phichit looked up at Celestino. “How do you know who I am?”

Celestino stared at him. “You… have no idea who I am, do you.”

“Well, you’ve told me your name, and clearly you’re one of the gods if you can freeze a river enough for someone to walk across…”

“This is the realm of the dead, and I’m its king. Everything down here obeys my will.”

Phichit stopped. “How come I’ve never met you? I’ve met all the others…”

Celestino smiled grimly. “I don’t get along with the others very well. Therefore, I rarely leave my domain.”

“Oh.” Phichit reached out and took Celestino’s hand. “That sounds like it must get lonely.”

Celestino stared at their joined hands. “…It does, sometimes, but it’s better this way than constantly fighting with the others. When Yakov and I get going at each other, everyone runs for the hills.”

 

When they got to the castle, Celestino took Phichit to a bedroom. “Get some rest. I’m going to let your mother know you’re here and that I’ll be bringing you home once you’re rested. Yakov says she’s throwing a temper tantrum about you being lost.”

“Mom’s ridiculous. It’s so boring up there! She never lets me go anywhere or do anything unless I’m heavily escorted and protected, which means coming down here is the most fun I’ve had in years.”

“I’m sorry. Yakov would kill me if I didn’t send you back, though.”

“Yeah, I know.” Phichit stretched out on the bed and sighed. “Thank you for the adventure, at least.”

When he woke up, Celestino was gone, but someone had left a pomegranate beside the bed. Phichit reached for it – now that someone mentioned it, he was hungry. The door slammed open as he plucked out the first seed. “Don’t!”

Phichit hesitated with the seed inches from his lips at Celestino’s outburst. “Why not? Is it poisoned?”

“No, but if you eat or drink anything down here, you’re trapped. I can bend the rules a little, but I can’t just break them, and your mother…”

“My mother can go to…” Phichit stopped and reconsidered. Technically, he was the one who’d gone to Hell. Very slowly, every motion deliberate, Phichit popped that seed and five others into his mouth, never breaking eye contact with Celestino. “There. Six seeds for six months. You said you can bend the rules, does that work?”

“Your mother is not going to be happy.” From the way Celestino’s eyes sparkled, though, Phichit thought he was. “Where did you even get a pomegranate?”

“I don’t know, it was just here when I woke up. I thought you left it for me.”

“Wasn’t me. I’ll have to look into it. Come on, your mom’s waiting for you.”

“But you’re bringing me back, right?”

“Six months in my realm for the six seeds you ate,” Celestino said. “Then you’re free.”

 

Once again, Phichit took Celestino’s hand as they walked out. It was a much shorter walk this time, as Celestino warped the ground around them to get them to the surface quickly. Yakov was waiting there with Phichit’s mother, and he scowled. “Phichit. Have you been hurt?”

“Nope. I left on my own, and when I go back, it’s my own doing.”

“What do you mean when you go back?” Sawat snapped. “You aren’t going anywhere!”

Yakov reached out and put a hand to Phichit’s face. “He has to. He ate.”

Sawat whirled on Celestino and slapped him. “How dare you steal my son from me like this? Yakov, if Phichit doesn’t come home, nothing will grow. The earth will be barren. No crops, no trees, no food for the animals. No sacrifices for the gods. Is that what you want?”

“No, of course not, but what choice is there? He ate the food of the dead; his place is in the underworld now.”

Celestino cleared his throat. “Six seeds of a pomegranate, eaten of his own informed free will. He’ll be with me for six months, Sawat, then he’s free to return home.”

“And for those six months, the world will suffer,” Sawat promised.

"Six months in the Underworld, six months on the Earth." Yakov scowled at Sawat. "The humans and animals will adapt."

Phichit and Celestino looked at each other. They'd both assumed that the six months was a one-time deal. Phichit squeezed Celestino's hand; he was not going to argue with Yakov. Celestino nodded. "A fair compromise. We'll see you in six months, Sawat."

"You'd better not even be a single day late," she pouted. "Phichit, be careful down there."


End file.
